Ain't Nothin' Wrong With a Little Free Time

Since my days are set to the sleeping patterns of a toddler and the biorhythms of a dog, I have to squeeze my "work," i.e. writing, interviews, blogging, etc, into naptime and the few hours after the boy goes to bed and before I collapse. I'm pretty good about getting the important, bill-paying stuff done, but unfortunately that means what suffers is Me Time, things like reading books or watching a ballgame on TV without a computer in my lap. When I just spent most of my day stressing out about what I wasn't getting done because I was at the playground or reading Richard Scarry books 49 consecutive times, I can't very well justify not doing my stuff when I'm back home and books are put away.

One day this week, the boy was at Grandma's for the day, so I lined up a ton of things to knock out. Most of my afternoon was going to be spent dealing with some carpenters installing a cabinet in our house, so I also knew I had to get busy in the morning. As any time-constrained person knows, feeling squeezed is the best way to make yourself efficient, and I finished everything I needed to by lunch. Then, lo and behold, the furniture guys called and said they couldn't make it, so I was faced with a free afternoon.

Now, I could have looked at the remaining items on my to-do list and just kept on truckin'. But, nothing else on my list was all that urgent, and I really wanted to dig into that book sitting on my nightstand, the one taunting me every night when I conked out without turning page. So that's what I did. I took advantage of four quiet, uninterrupted hours in my house, and read a book. And when my son came home that evening, I enjoyed my time with him that much more because I wasn't feeling ragged and worn out from working nonstop all day.

"Caring for our stressed out lumps of grey matter by indulging in personal pleasures every once in a while isn't a bad thing."

I had been feeling stressed out this week, which is why I felt like I needed to accomplish so much that day. But when I was faced with that unexpected block of free time, I looked at what I had left on my plate and realized I was on top of it. What was really bothering me was how that book was going unread. Even though I routinely list reading as one of my top priorities, I wasn't doing it, and after I finally put a good-sized dent in it, I felt 100% better.

Of course, the next day, 892 screaming, blinking, high-priority things hit my inbox, and for a half-second I felt like I could use that four hours back. But I knew I couldn't. More importantly, I reminded myself that I wouldn't have wanted to spend that time differently anyway.

I remember being in a similar situation not too long ago but I had more than one enjoyable thing beckoning for my free time. I realized I was stressing out, pacing the floor trying to decide what to do with those precious few hours. I took a long walk, which wasn't one of the things I was trying to decide on but was the best choice at the time.

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